Health Benefits of Tea (Infographic)

Choosing the right tea for your health is only half of the equation, though. A good friend of mine is a self-proclaimed “tea nerd,” and she has hipped me to more detailed information on how to properly brew your tea. Different teas don’t just have different ideal steeping times. Did you know that there are also ideal water temperatures that help bring out the taste and the health benefits of tea? Teavana has a handy chart (it’s toward the bottom of this page) that shows you the temperature and brewing time for different tea varieties. It’s definitely worth looking over.

Pu-erh tea was very interesting! As any tea-drinker knows, most tea gets stale when it sits on the shelf for too long, but according to Dr. Weil, pu-erh tea actually improves with age, “like a fine wine.” The aging process includes fermentation, and you know how good fermented food and drinks are for you!

The other new-to-me tea on this listt – Chaga tea – is actually made from mushrooms. When you brew it it tastes a bit like coffee. Like many other teas, the longer you steep the more bitter it gets, so you might want to start with a short brewing time if you’re new to chaga tea and let it steep longer as your palate adjusts to the tea’s unique flavor.

This tea infographic comes from Sayan Health, and it looks at the health benefits of tea varieties. You probably have many of these teas in your pantry already, so put the kettle on while you read through these wonderful health benefits of tea. You can click on the infographic to view a full-sized version.